Lighting fixture with supporting clip



March 31, 1964 H. 'r. BECK LIGHTING FIXTURE WITH SUPPORTING CLIP Filed Aug. 16, 1961 mmvron HENRY T. BECK.

agent.

United States Patent 3,127,229 LIGHTKNG FIXTURE WETH SUPPORTING CLEP Henry Thomas Beck, 43% Richview Ave., Toronto, @ntario, Canada Filed Aug. 16, 1961, Ser. No. 131,874 9 (llaims. (Ql. 33999) The invention relates to electric lamp fixtures equipped with socket bodies respectively designed to be rapidly mounted on an insulated power cord and in electrical connection therewith without the use of tools or preliminary preparation of the insulation.

The invention still more particularly visualizes a socket body of the type which is used in decorative streamers or strings of electric lights which are, in turn, used to festoon and decorate Christmas trees, for example; the instant socket body being preferably equipped with a hanger for hanging it temporarily on any convenient support at the site of use such as a branch of the Christmas tree.

A socket body of the contemplated type has an interior receptacle or socket for an electric lamp as well as an exterior channel serving amongst other things, as a junction box in which the electrical conductors of the socket are connected to the power cord; the said cord being impaled upon and electrically engaged by barbs extending from said conductors into said channel.

Necessarily, said channel requires a plug or equivalent device for closing the channel and so preventing access to the parts contained therein. In addition, the plug is also required to maintain the said parts in engagement with each other. Furthermore, the plug or its equivalent may also carry a hanger for hanging it as aforesaid.

In most prior devices of the present character, a hanger or its equivalent is added to the channel closing member as a separate element and separate elements are also utilized for securing the channel closing member in its operative position. On the other hand, the socket bodies herein contemplated are usually cost-sensitive items, capable of being priced completely out of the market by any undue complication and/ or extra parts involved in the manufacture thereof.

Having regard to the foregoing, one of the important objects of the invention is to provide a socket body of the character described having a channel as and for the stated purpose as well as a channel closing plug; the parts being designed to enable or to permit the plug to be locked in the channel without the intervention or agency of any other part.

It is a further and important object of the invention to provide such plug with an integral hanger element capable of being molded co-incidentally and contemporaneously with the plug itself.

A yet further object of the invention is to provide a socket structure of the character described wherein the plug snap-locks into the channel in such a way as to enhance its ability to clamp the cord in the channel and to restrict movement of the said cord relative to the barbs upon which it is impaled as aforesaid.

It is a still further object of the invention to provide a socket structure as above described wherein the plug completes and complements the socket body.

it is a yet further object of the invention to provide a structure of the character described wherein the plug is resiliently containable within the channel for the obvious advantageous purposes.

Further and other objects of the invention more or less broad than the foregoing will be in part, apparent and in part more specifically described in the hereinafter following description of the elements, parts and principles constituting the invention of which a prefered embodiment is hereinafter described by way of example only and illustrated in the hereunto annexed drawing wherein like 3,127,229 Patented Mar. 31, 1964 reference devices denote like parts throughout the various views and wherein,

FIG. 1 is an isometric View of a herein contemplated fixture with portions thereof cut away to reveal certain interior details.

FIG. 2 is a side-elevational and partly exploded View of the fixture of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged elevational View of the upper detail of FIG. 2 showing the exploded parts in a preliminary state of assembly.

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 showing the parts at a later state of assembly with cut-away portions revealing hidden structural details.

FIG. 5 is a split sectional view corresponding to FIGS. 3 and 4 showing the same parts in final and pre-final assembly, and

FIG. 6 is a top plan view of the body or socket member only of FIG. 2.

The present light fixture L includes, amongst other usual appurtenances, the body member 2 best shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 which is, of course, formed of appropriate materials in any prefered manner. Said body member 2 is tubular with one blind end 4; the other end being open to provide access to the interior cavity of said body member 2 as suggested by the broken portions of FIG. I.

Said interior cavity is fitted with the usual facilities (not fully shown) forming it into a socket 6 for electric lamp 3; said facilities including the elements necessary for physically supporting said electric lamp 8 as well as the current carrying parts required for placing the said lamp 8 into electrical communication with a power cord 1% which is, in this example, formed of twin conductors 1t)'10' respectively sheathed in insulation 11 which may be resilient as is normally customary.

The connection to the power cord 16 may be eifected electrically by means of a pair of pointed terminals or barbs 1212 connected to said current carrying parts and upon which the respective conductors 1ll'--1tl of said power cord 10 may be impaled in a known manner as shown in FIG. 5.

A slot (FIG. 6) providing a feedthrough channel 14 formed, for example, in the blind end 4 of the body member 2, is dimensioned to contain said power cord 10; the barbs 12-12 projecting into said channel 14 where they impale and connect electrically with power cord 10 as aforesaid.

It will be obvious that the efiiciency of such connection depends upon maintaining the parts not only in fixed relation but with the power cord 16 and barbs 12-12 substantially immovable relative to each other to avoid separation and arcing. To effect this purpose and also to complement the body member 2 by filling in channel 14, the invention contemplates plug 16 which is dimensioned to fit reasonably snugly within said channel 14 with its side walls 18-48 contiguous to channel walls 249-243.

To secure plug 16 in channel 14, each pair of contigous plug and channel walls 1S2ti carry co-operating formations by means of which the said plug 16 can be snap-locked in said channel 14 so as to exert pressure on the power cord 10 and thus establish and maintain it in compressive connection with barbs 1212.

The Wall formations visualized by the invention for snaplocking the plug 16 in channel 14 may include a detent 22 projecting resiliently from one of the said walls and a recess 24 for said detent 22 on the other wall. In the present embodiment, the detent 22 is asstuned to be located on the plug wall 18 with a recess 26 behind it in which it is receivable while the plug 16 is en route into channel 14 as shown by FIGS. 3 and 4.

As and when the plug 16 reaches home and the parts are in registration, the detent 22 vacates plug wall recess 26 and enters the channel wall recess 24 where it remains captive as depicted in FIG. 5; thus effectively preventing reverse movement of the plug 16.

Following the selection of an appropriate site on the power cord 10, light fixture L may be attached thereto by a few simple steps. That is to say, the body member 2 is first engaged on power cord with the selected site of the latter contained in said channel 14 and with each conductor 10' thereof respectively disposed for engagement with and by a barb 12. Plug 16 is then inserted into channel 14 and, on being pushed home, conductors 101t of this example are pressed respectively against barbs 12-12 until each of the latter penetrates insulation 11 and engages a specific conductor 10'. By that time, the detent 22 on the plug wall 18 will have reached snap-locking position in registration with and opposite contiguous channel wall recess 24 and will enter therein; it being understood that the detent 22 will have been cammed back into its recess 2610 permit the plug 16 to enter channel 14 and to reach :home or snap-locking position aforesaid at which time it leaves recess 26 and enters recess 24.

Said channel wall recess 24- is bounded at its top by a ceiling or shoulder 27 which is normal to the axis along which the plug 16 moves in channel 1-4 and which may engage detent 2 2 to prevent the removal of said plug 16 from channel 14; the upper edge 28 of detent 22 being preferably oriented to parallel said shoulder 27 in the snap-locking position aforesaid.

Also as a matter of preference, the upper corner 30 of each channel wall is rounded as shown or otherwise relieved to facilitate camming of resilient detent 22 into its recess 26 from which it ultimately springs under the force of its inherent resilience aforesaid to enter channel wall recess 24 when able to do so and to engage shoulder 27 therein.

It will be appreciated that the provision of the instant channel 14 on an exterior portion of body member 2 will tend to create and present an unfinished aspect. Thus plug 16, which is receivable within channel 14 may be so dimensioned and ornamented as to complement and complete channel 14 when it is in home or fully contained position therein and thus effectively filling in said channel 14.

Ideally said plug 16 may carry ornamentation on its ends 29-29 (only one of which appears in the drawing) to correspond to and to blend with the surface ornamentation of said body member 2 with which said ends 2929 are flush in the home position aforesaid as shown in FIG. 1.

Although a light fixture construction including a plug which fits into a channel is not fundamentally novel, the present invention has several features of marked superiority over those of its predecessors.

For example, some prior structures relied upon caps for maintaining plugs in channels. Not only did such prior structures obviously require additional parts as well as much more elaborate and intricate constructions, the fact was that they did not manifest the versatility which characterizes the present invention.

In the present instance, when the plug 16 is installed in channel 14, it complements and completes the present body member 2 and gives it the appearance of a unitary, finished article.

That is to say, the insulation 11 about conductor 10' is normally elastic and resilient and will react to the pressure of the plug 16 thereon to repel the said plug 16 to its highest possible elevation in channel 14, as suggested by [the right half of FIG. 5, and this level of elevation will be the same irrespective of whether power cord 10 be light or heavy; the only' variable being in respect of the specific reactive pressure exerted on plug 16 as suggested by the left half of FIG. 5.

Conversely, the caps or equivalent of the prior art were not always capable of being fully tightened irrespective of the thickness of the power cord associated therewith; the result being frequently either unsightly gaps between the cap and the body portion, or loose cords, or loose caps.

By comparison the present-plug 16 as herein visualized makes it more readily possible to achieve a finished socket result than was ordinarily possible with the caps or equivalents of the prior art.

It should also be kept in mind that the socket body 2 may be weakened by channeling and is, hence, reinforced by filling the channeling with the present plug 16.

Finally, it will also be observed that the interlocking of the plug and the channel walls as herein visualized is less subject to inadvertent release by externally applied compressive pressures; an internal expanding force being required as a precedent condition to dissociate the plug 16 from channel 14.

As has already been indicated, the present invention also seeks to provide a light fixture L with hanger facilities as and for the purpose above described.

The specific hanger visualized in this instance contemplates one element arranged in more or less confronting relation to another with at least one of them being movable relative to the other to permit insertion and subseq uent clamping of an object interposed therebetween.

More specifically, the invention contemplates a hanger composed of element 40 which may be molded integrally with plug 16 either in the ribbon-form illustrated or with any other suitable cross-section. Said hanger element 40 is designed to co-operate with a wall of body member 2 for which purpose it is herein given the form of a flat, elevated embossment or plateau 42.

In the present embodiment, said plateau 42 is located at the side of said body member 2. in consequence thereof, the hanger element 40, which is an integral extension of ,plug 16, is trained or oriented to overlie plateau 42 in slightly spaced relation thereto. The specific free end or tip 44 of the hanger element 49 is then arched in a known manner to lie normally at or upon said plateau 42; the hanger element 40 being set or biased to urge said tip 44 towards said plateau 42.

In use, of course, the tip 44 of hanger element 40 need only be withdrawn from plateau 42 to permit an object such as that shown at 46 in FIG. 1 to be interposed therebetween following which the said tip 44 may be released to exert a relatively light but firm clamping pressure upon the said object 46.

It is noteworthy at this point that there is very little need for adjustment or post-structural variation in order to render the present hanger H operative having regard to the manner in which the plug 16 is required to fit within channel 14 whereby the hanger element 40 is capable of only two positions relative to said member 2.

Thus, the only effort involved in connecting the present light fixture L to a power cord 10 consists of sandwiching a selected reach of said power cord 10 between body member 2 and plug 16 whereby the hanger H is also manufactured and assembled; it being necessary in achieving this result only to turn the said plug 16 to the appropriate one of its two aforesaid positions in channel 14.

Obviously, the inventive principles herein described are applicable to structures other than the embodiment specifically selected for the exemplary purposes of this submission. The fact that such other structures were omitted herefrom for the sake of clarity and simplicity should not therefore be construed as an abandonment of any of the rights to which the present invention may be fairly entitled and which may be fairly inferred from the claims now following.

What is claimed is:

1. An electric light fixture including a body member having an interior lamp socket and an exterior channel rendering said body member incomplete and wherein current carrying parts of the socket are connected compressively to a power cord; a plug receivable within said channel, said plug and said channel having walls which are contiguous within said channel; co-operating formations including recesses on two contiguous walls and a resilient detent carried by one of said walls and reoeivable in one of said recesses to permit insertion of the plug into the channel and receivable in the other recess to prevent the Withdrawal thereof, securing said plug in said channel and maintaining the compressive conuection of said current carrying parts and said cord and completing said body member.

2. An electric light fixture including a body member having an interior lamp socket and an exterior channel rendering said body member incomplete and wherein current carrying parts of the socket are connected compressively to a power cord; a plug, receivable within said channel; said plug and said channel having walls which are contiguous within said channel; co-operatiang formations including a resilient detent carried by a contiguous Wall of said plug, said plug wall and the channel wall contiguous thereto each having recesses; said detent being receivable within the recess in the plug wall permitting insertion of said plug into said channel and being subsequently engageable in the channel wall recess when said plug is fully disposed within said channel, securing said plug in said channel and maintaining the compressive connection of said current carrying parts and said cord and completing said body member.

3. An electric light fixture including a body member having an interior ramp socket and an exterior channel rendering said body member incomplete and wherein current carrying parts of the socket are compressively connected to a power cord; a plug receivable within said channel, and co-operating means in said channel and on said plug for securing said plug within said channel maintaining the compressive connection of said current carrying parts and said cord and completing said body member; said plug having also an integral hanger extension.

4. An electric light fixture including a body member having an interior lamp socket and an exterior channel wherein current carrying parts of the socket are connected compressively to a power cord; a plug complementing said body member receivable within said channel; means for securing said plug within said channel maintaining the compressive connection of said current carrying parts and said cord, and a ribbon element integral with and extending non rotatably from said plug co-operable with a wall of said body member to form a hanger when the plug is secured in said channel.

5. An electric light fixture including a body member having an interior lamp socket and an exterior channel wherein current carrying parts of the socket are connected compressively to a power cord; a plug receivable within said channel complementing said body member; means for securing said plug within said channel maintaining the compressive connection of said current carrying parts and said cord, and a ribbon element integral with and extending non rotatably from said plug; said body member having a flattened wall co-operating with said ribbon to form a hanger when the plug is secured in said channel.

6. An electric light fixture including a body member having an interior lamp socket and an exterior channel wherein the current carrying parts of the socket are connected compressively to a power cord; a plug receivable within said channel complementing said body member and maintaining the compressive connection of said current carrying parts and said cord; a ribbon element integral with and non rotatably extending from said plug, and a flat, elevated plateau formed on an exterior wall of said body member co-operating with said ribbon to form a hanger when the plug is secured in said channel.

7. An electric light fixture including a body member having an interior lamp socket and an exterior channel wherein current carrying parts of the socket are connected compressively to a power cord; a plug member receivable within said chanel complementing said body member; means for securing said plug within said channel maintaining the compressive connection of said current carrying parts and said cord, a ribbon element integral with and non rotatably extending from said plug, and a raised plateau formed on an exterior wall of said body member co-operable with said ribbon to form a hanger; said ribbon having a tip resiliently biased toward said plateau.

8. An electric light fixture including a body member having an interior lamp socket and an exterior channel rendering said body member incomplete and wherein current carrying parts of the socket are connected compressively to a power cord; a plug receivable within said channel completing said body member, said plug and said channel having walls which are contiguous within said channel and which have recesses; a detent carried by and projecting resiliently from said plug wall containable within a recess on the same wall permitting insertion of said plug into said channel, and being engageable in a recess in the channel wall when said plug is at home position within said channel; said channel wall recess having a shoulder which is substantially normal to the axis of entry of said plug into said channel and said detent having a surface engaging said shoulder when the plug is seated Within said channel, securing said plug in said channel and maintaining the compressive connection of said current carrying parts and said cord; said plug having also an integral hanger extension.

9. An electric light fixture including a body member having an interior lamp socket and an exterior channel wherein current carrying parts of the socket are connected compressively to a power cord; a plug receivable within said channel complementing said body member, said plug and said channel having walls which are contiguous when said plug is within said channel and which have recesses; a detent attached to said plug wall for movement between a first position within a recess on the plug wall and a second position within a recess in a contiguous channel Wall; said channel wall recess having a shoulder which is substantially normal to the axis of entry of said plug into the channel and said detent having a locking surface engaging said shoulder when the plug is at home position within said channel maintaining the compressive connection of said current carrying parts and said cord; said channel wall being relieved at its corner, and said plug having an integral hanger extension.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,625,248 Eckstein Apr. 19, 1927 2,284,788 Wolf June 2, 1942 2,475,243 Irrgang July 5, 1949 2,657,367 Brooks Oct. 27, 1953 3,103,399 Martin Sept. 10, 1963 

1. AN ELECTRIC LIGHT FIXTURE INCLUDING A BODY MEMBER HAVING AN INTERIOR LAMP SOCKET AND AN EXTERIOR CHANNEL RENDERING SAID BODY MEMBER INCOMPLETE AND WHEREIN CURRENT CARRYING PARTS OF THE SOCKET ARE CONNECTED COMPRESSIVELY TO A POWER CORD; A PLUG RECEIVABLE WITHIN SAID CHANNEL, SAID PLUG AND SAID CHANNEL HAVING WALLS WHICH ARE CONTIGUOUS WITHIN SAID CHANNEL; CO-OPERATING FORMATIONS INCLUDING RECESSES ON TWO CONTIGUOUS WALLS AND A RESILIENT DETENT CARRIED BY ONE OF SAID WALLS AND RECEIVABLE IN ONE OF SAID RECESSES TO PERMIT INSERTION OF THE PLUG INTO THE CHANNEL AND RECEIVABLE IN THE OTHE RECESS TO PREVENT THE WITHDRAWAL THEREOF, SECURING SAID PLUG IN SAID CHANNEL AND MAINTAINING THE COMPRESSIVE CONNECTION OF SAID CURRENT CARRYING PARTS AND SAID CORD AND COMPLETING SAID BODY MEMBER. 